Slow-growing prostate cancers may not need operation

US researchers, who have run a 15-year study of men who had surgery for prostate cancer, have found only a small percentage died from cancer.

The clinical study of more than 12,600 men with prostate cancer who had their prostates removed found only 12 percent died from cancer 15 years later.

The conclusion from the study reveals a remarkably low risk of dying from prostate cancer within 15 years for treated men, and supports the diagnosis of some doctors that men with slow-growing cancers may not need immediate treatment.

The study also suggests many men have to live with the side-effects of aggressive surgery or radiation treatment for a cancer that may never kill them.